


Lyria's Hope

by ZabiHakuhei



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-30 19:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19410193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZabiHakuhei/pseuds/ZabiHakuhei
Summary: An original "Story Event" themed type of Granblue Fantasy story, this idea came to me a year ago when thinking if I could write something that would reach a level of interest like "What Makes the Sky Blue" but I finally choose to finish it and make it public now. Since this story was already planned a year ago, some personalities of a couple of characters may not seem totally accurate to their canon characterization, it was my own decision to leave them as such. Is very simple and very straightforward, but I hope you enjoy it.





	Lyria's Hope

**INTRO**

In ancient times, hope was considered one of the most fundamental of all the emotions...

They say all living creatures are bound to be born with the natural instinctive feeling of fear, yet they aren't born with the emotion of hope.

Hope is,

something that has to be learned.

Far away in the skies, in a place where the sun doesn't reach through the dense clouds, night reigns over the few islands that surround the area. In one of them, a clandestine laboratory where a certain experiment was about to be executed, a familiar figure bringing huge luggage with them would appear in front of the white-coated scientists.

Immersed with sudden fear, yet playing it cool, one of the old men walks to the young figure as the others prepare for the worst, "But if it's no other one than the mighty Lord Loki! What has happened for us to deserve such a visit from an Astral?"

The man in question sightly snorts while gazing the installations of the laboratory, everyone is just overwhelmed by having him up close, he doesn't seem to need to say something to demonstrate his position, "Sweet talking will take you nowhere, August, but you and your comrades should calm down, I'm not here to ask you to do anything for me, in fact, I've come to give you a gift."

The staff would gasp in anticipation, slowly calming down as Loki explains he means no harm to them; August would look upon the huge luggage that barely managed to get inside the doors of the laboratory, the contents inside remains a mystery covered by a dirty blanket, "Is that, the old neurological convertor the Empire stopped working on...? The one I was begging them to hand over?!"

"Bingo, August! I found it gathering dust in an old hangar, then I remembered how much you wanted it, and thought the Empire was too busy to notice something like this would be missing," Loki explains with a daring smile, as he takes the blanket off to show an old turbine-like machine, "I hope the materialization of primal energy is still in one of your themes of research."

"Lord Loki, this is..." August is astonished watching the old machine, "Yes, we are!" He turns to his staff, which are as much excited as him, "Cancel the launch for the experiment, bring the old data and prepare to install this converter with the rest of the system!" He orders his men quickly, which don't hesitate to start moving and look for a vehicle to carry the machine in the deepest parts of the installations. August takes a deep breath, and with a serious tone, but unable to hide his excitement, he turns back to Loki "With this, we will finally able to get positive results from these experiments, I; I don't know how to thank you, Lord Loki."

"Well, this is mainly a gift," Loki smiles wide, but August knows what that means.

"But I suppose you are waiting for us to do something in specific with this machine," He insists, this time the Astral laughs, clearly starting to show off his true colors.

"Was I that obvious?" Loki asks, watching the men in the lab, connect huge energy cables to the converter which after some rusty, engine noises, begins to work as if new, the scientist all gasp in happiness as they run from one corner to the other checking the state of the computers. "A machine that can convert the energy of a Primal and replicate their neurological system, or resume, a machine capable to replicate Primal Beasts through the main emotions in which they convert their power." He looks back to August, his laughing has ended, "I already have in mind someone you can use this machine on."

August goes back both in his tone of voice and distance between him and Loki, "My Lord... Do you want to try this on a human? Not on a Primal Beast? With a machine like this, we could easily make our own Ifrit with just a little bit of the energy coming from his rage, wasn't that the original plan?"

"And that plan has changed," Loki quickly interrupts the man, walking a step closer to him, "With the technology you now possess, you can aim for higher goals."

"My Lord, forgive me for insisting but, what kind of human would this machine be able to replicate? Do they possess energy similar to the one of a Primal Beast? I'm not even sure what kind of results would happen for that," August explains to him, full of doubts, but Loki doesn't seem to care about these details.

"I just want results, nothing else, you can keep this machine as long as your first experiment, it's her"

"Her... You say?" August waves, but his desire to continue his experiments is higher, reluctantly, he nods, and Loki with a smile takes the man from a shoulder and begins to explain to him his idea.

In the skies of the Auguste Isles, the Grancypher has realized a short dock in their harbor to refill provisions, meanwhile, the others are busy unloading empty cargo boxes to be used, Lyria, Yaia, and Vyrn are playing together in the bow of the ship.

"Ah, are those the painting supplements you told us about last night?" Lyria exclaims with happiness as Yaia appears behind her carrying a heavy set of painting instruments, "Wait, let me help you with that!" She hurries to rescue the little Doraph who is overwhelmed by her luggage.

"Yes, big sis Katalina said she found it yesterday when they were preparing the boxes for the dock, hey-ho!" Yaia gasps as she shares the weight of the stuff with Lyria and leaves it close to the ship wheel.

"And what do you plan to do with it?" Vyrn asks smelling the contents of the cans and being grossed out by the strong odor of oil.

"Huhu, I'm glad you ask!" Yaia smirks and points out to the seemingly vast ocean of Auguste, "I thought it would be a nice chance to make a painting of the sea, and I wanted to paint together with Lyria and the Captain!"

"I see, that's a great idea, I want to paint too!" Lyria replies excited.

"And what do you plan to do with those paintings once you're done?" Vyrn asks, "Do you plan to put them inside the ship?"

"Hm-hmm, you see, I want to gift it to daddy!" Yaia explains to them, gesturing with her hands, "We live both deep in the mountains, so the sea is something weird to see for the both of us" She looks at the sea and takes a deep breath of the salty wind, "I want to paint this ocean so he can look with my eyes what Auguste Isles is like!"

"That's a beautiful thought, Yaia, I'm sure you can make a great painting for your dad to hang in his house!" Lyria outlines a smile from ear to ear, same to Vyrn.

The kids begin to unpack the art supplies and mount the brackets and canvases, careful to don't get early stains with the cans of paint when Katalina and Djeeta come from the insides of the ship to the bow.

"Good morning everyone! Looks like you all got early to paint!" Djeeta exclaims while holding a mug of coffee with both hands.

"I see you're going to use the art supplements today," a figure adds as they approach from behind Djeeta, "I guess, is great timing, the sky is cloudless and the sea is calm too, I expect some great works from you both" Katalina tells the girls with a tender tone as they nod in excitement.

"You bet they are, I'm sure they'll knock your socks off!" Vyrn shouts cheering up the girls.

"Of course, Captain will paint with us too!" Yaia forwards to say.

Djeeta who was taking a sip of her coffee gets surprised by Yaia's words and kind of coughs on her mug, "Me too?! No, no, I'm not good with painting at all," She waves with her hands trying to back down the offer but Lyria holds her by the hand and pouts.

"A break from work would come in handy for you," Her fingers wrapping those of Djeeta, "Lately you've been working and training non-stop, you keep waking up late and also you're drinking too much coffee!"

Djeeta is speechless to Lyria's accusations because they're all true, she looks up at Katalina looking to be rescued, but the woman holds her by the shoulder and shakes her head, "Lyria's right, you deserve a break, why don't you spend the day painting with them? We can do today's chores without you."

"B-but," Djeeta insists, but she's slowly being dragged against her will by Lyria, Yaia, and Vyrn.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen if you stay for a while and have fun, we'll bring fresh fish to eat later, alright?" Katalina says, giving a little push to Djeeta and tossing her to the arms of the girls, "Your task today is to have fun and take care of your Captain, is that clear?" She asks in a firm voice, yet with a small smile.

"Yes, Sir!" Lyria and Yaia shout to Katalina while saluting to her.

"You hear her, no work today, only have fun!" Yaia pouts to the beat Djeeta, who had no words to fight against the pushy girls.

"Fine, fine, you got me," Djeeta moans reluctantly while inspecting the art supplements, "But if we are going to paint, we'll do the best we can!" She exclaims as she puts the third bracket with the biggest canvas of all.

"Now you're talking, that's the spirit!" Vyrn hurries to say while laughing, the other girls are motivated for Djeeta's change of humor and join with her to start painting, the three of them put their canvas so they get a look of both the sea and the docks of the city.

"Where should we start first? The sea, maybe the ships in the docks?" Djeeta wonders while gesturing with her fingers trying to capture the starting point of her painting.

"I'm going to start by drawing the seagulls!" Yaia tells them, eagerly lifting the lids of the cans and the tubes, looking for the right tones to put on her palette.

"Y-you sure don't want to start by adding the colors of the landscape?" Djeeta waves, trying to toss a hint to Yaia but the girl is too focused to get it, "Say Lyria, what are you going to do?"

"Let's see, I guess I'm going to start by-"

A sudden, acute sound interrupts her, a thin ray of pure yellow light has hit Lyria from the back, knocking her out on the bow, Djeeta's mug drops on the floor from being utterly shocked, Katalina who was about to turn back with the others looks horrified how Lyria falls down and Yaia shouts a true horror scream.

Djeeta jumps over the two girls in an instinctive reaction to protect them with her body as Katalina draws her sword, "LIGHT WALL" She shouts, with rage and fear and as a veil of solid blue energy covers them all, Djeeta and Katalina look upon the skies, the shoot that took down Lyria came from there, they instantly spot a ship flying near, a second shot has been fired, this time, it ricochets against Katalina's White Wall and disappears in the form of dust.

A couple of minutes before the shoot, Cagliostro, Eugen, Io, Nezahualpilli, Petra, Rackam and Rosetta have just finished bringing out all the wooden boxes they were going to use to carry the provisions back in the ship, as Cagliostro hurries to disappear to avoid such exhausting task and Io and Rosetta go off early without them to check on Sierokarte's shop, the other four are left alone waiting for Djeeta and Katalina to set off inside the markets of Auguste; when the sudden shoot of yellow light darkens the sky and calls everybody's attention as they hear Yaia's scream.

"Just what in the skies...?!" Eugen is baffled by the sound of the shoot, both he and Rackam draw their shotguns and search for the enemy in the sky.

"Is everyone up there fine?! Did something happen?!" Petra screams up to the bow, unable to see.

"Lyria... Lyria was shot by someone! We need help, quickly!" Katalina yells agitated.

"You have to be kidding, is it the Empire? Why are they trying to take down Lyria this time?!" Rackam complains, dropping his cigarette while looking for the enemy when he spots the ship, "Right there over your right shoulder geezer, shoot 'em down!" He yells to Eugen as he focuses his energy, and a silhouette resembling Tiamat supports him from behind.

"I see it now, let's smash them to pieces!" Eugen agrees as he accumulates his power, the water from the bay flows into the tip of his shotgun and begins to form a ball of water compressed energy.

Both of the men shout loudly as they pull the triggers of their firearms, the rays of elemental energy grow bigger and fly towards the ship, but they are blocked and dispersed by a force shield.

"Tch, this can't be the Empire, none of them have the brains to pull a surprise attack like this!" Eugen complains, refilling the chamber of his shotgun when Nezahualpilli stops him with the tip of his spear.

"Leave it to me and Petra, Lyria needs medical assist now!" The man utters in anger, his eyes wide open as if he has lost his nerve, he postures to attack while Petra begins a prayer, Eugen and Rackam look at each other and proceed to go back inside the ship. Nezahualpilli changes stances at the same time Petra opens her eyes and swings her staff, a sudden wind guided by magical energy envelops the man and shoots him in the sky, "If it's for Lyria, the skies are nothing to fear!" He screams ready to pierce the ship with his spear, but canons come out from it and shoot the bullet man, throwing him out of Petra's blessed winds and losing his altitude, "No, this can't be!" Nezahualpilli shouts in rage, but then, he's rescued by a giant, weird-looking red dragon.

"They almost had you there Neza, just pathetic, that way you plan to avenge your comrades?" Cagliostro tells him as she flies by on the top of a similar-looking blue dragon.

"You have my thanks, Cagliostro, I will use your opportunity to take down those who dared to hurt Lyria!" He brings up his spear again, the red dragon roars and flies over the enemy ship.

"That's more like it, let's make some hassle, Ouroboros!" Cagliostro joins and commands the dragon, both of them red and blue leaving the king and alchemist girl in the bow of the enemy ship, they spot just a few armed soldiers and many white-coated old men, one of them with a weird looking shotgun connected to a chair in the floor, there's many questions to what and why, but these two people have no interest in making them first, as Cagliostro dragons pierce the shield of the ship with magic seals and penetrates it like a drill destroying the draft, sounds of magic explosions and weapons clashing in the distance can be heard from the ones in the bay as they gaze the enemy ship is destroyed at mid-air, collapsing and falling into the sea.

Meanwhile back in the dock, Eugen and Rackam are asking to borrow a small boat to look for Cagliostro and Nezahualpilli, while Djeeta, Rosetta, Yaia and Vyrn look as the three healers of the group, Io, Katalina, and Petra, join their hands and pour their energy into Lyria's body, but they stop, the three of them frustrated and confused.

"Lyria... why aren't you waking up?!" Io asks while tearing up.

"It doesn't make any sense, the shot could've been fatal yet she's unscratched, but that hit did something to her, no matter what we do she's not waking up."

"... What about her vitals?" Djeeta asks, trembling, faking composure, the women look at her helpless.

"She's alright, she's just, unconscious, we don't seem to understand why," Petra explains to her when suddenly, Lyria begins to mumble moans of pain.

"She's moving!" Vyrn yells impressed.

"Her temperature is rising, something weird is happening to Lyria!"

Djeeta runs and kneels with Lyria on the floor, wrapping her hands with hers, pouring energy into the girl. "Please I beg you, come back to us... Lyria!" She prays, focused as the glowing aura of the girl flows into her. But Lyria's moans just grow louder, she's sweating and her legs are shaking, then; for a moment, everything goes silent.

Lyria opens her eyes, and the crew gasps shocked and scared to what they see, her right eye is pitch white, and the glow is sparkling bright, almost like something is trying to come out from it, meanwhile, her left eye has turned all back, and a gross-looking, oily liquid begins to pour from it, the moment the strange liquid touches the floor, everyone falls on their knees, suddenly overwhelmed by a cold chill running through their spines, the wind begins to get cold, and everyone just stays paralyzed, freezing in the sudden change of environment and unable to say a word, as if a curse has rendered them immobile.

The women can only mourn in desperation as they watch the black liquid pour out completely from Lyria's eye, it zigzags around the floor like a snake and begins to grow and take a humanoid form, Lyria's left eye goes back to her usual form and she closes it, her right eye still glowing bright. the dark figure made from the black liquid begins to take the silhouette of no one else than Lyria herself as if the shadow of the girl had taken three dimensions.

"Con...some..." The dark figure mumbles with a voice similar to Lyria, but croaky, "I'll... consume her... consume her to be complete..." She slowly beings to walk back to the girl.

In an unprecedented call, everyone pulls every bit of force left in their bodies, crawling up to Lyria and covering the girl with their arms, they look back at the dark figure, their eyes are of one who will give their life before letting her get hurt.

"Consume her... you'll be consumed too...!" The dark Lyria moans as the light from the right eye of the girl sparkle like electricity, curling in the air and striking the dark Lyria, piercing a hole in the middle of her stomach. The wounded figure looks behind her, where the white energy stands and grows, the dark Lyria stands in all fours and hisses to the humanoid figure of light who just as the other takes the form of Lyria, this one remains silent, but when rising her hand, the energy which of what was made her arm would change forms and create a sword of light, without hesitation, the white Lyria ambushes the black one, who manages to parry the hit of the sword just barely.

Feeling disadvantaged, the dark Lyria jumps backwards and throws herself out of the ship, inside the sea, the white Lyria tries to pursue her, but looking back at the collapsed women, she reabsorbs the sword and hurries to go back to them.

"Where... Am I?" Lyria wonders, the girl woke up alone inside of a pitch-black room, dark enough to be unable to see her own arms and legs, she tries to stand up, but as she is unable to watch where she's standing, Lyria agitates and quickly drops to her knees back to the floor, unable to grasp the situation, she starts crying "Djeeta... Katalina... Vyrn... Everybody" The little girl in blue cries, that is when slowly, a glowing white door appears in front of her, familiar voices echo from the other side.

"Everyone is waiting for you," A voice identical to her says, the room trembles with her words, making Lyria hurry to grab the knob of the door and jump on the other side.

"Welcome back, did you have a nice dream?" The voice repeats, this time firmly and without echoes, still identical to her, Lyria opens her eyes slowly, her head hurts and her eyes burns but she smiles wide when facing her friends.

Even before she can say anything, Djeeta runs and jumps after her, hugging her from the neck, "You had me so worried... I thought you would never wake up!" Djeeta shouts, the tight embrace of the girl's arms make Lyria feel ashamed of making her worry, she tries to hug her back, but one of her hands seems to be holding onto something, when she turns to the left, she's shocked to see a white version of her, holding and caressing her hand.

She jumps startled and tries to pull away, but the white Lyria holds her hand firmly and smiles wide, gasping between confused and scared, she looks back to Djeeta who can't help but laugh, "The face you're making right now is incredible!" She yells, the laugh taking possession of her body, "That's not fair, you can't put us all to worry and then make me laugh like this!" She holds on her stomach, trying to recover her breath.

"There's no reason to be afraid, Lady Lyria, I'm here for you," The white version of her explains, but her voice has stopped being similar to Lyria, changing tones between words.

"She was the one who saved us all, we owe her a lot," Djeeta adds, the white Lyria nods happily.

"But... What... Who are you? Are you... Me?" Lyria asks, confused is not enough of a word to describe how the girl is feeling.

"Of course not!" The white Lyria replies and stands up, her voice tone is melodious but also firm, her body, from the toes to her hair, including her clothes are changing forms as she walks around the room, "I wish I could be like Lady Lyria, but that's not who I am, yet, I am a part of you," Her legs grow longer, her skin stops glowing and her hair begins to shorten, "Indeed, I'm part of my Lady's soul, I'm everything she needs and everything she is, you may as well call me 'Hope', because that is who am I, figuratively and literally." The eloquence of her words can be only paired with the current situation, as everyone in the bow observes dumbfounded the white entity change forms from a white glowing Lyria to an adult woman of pale skin, tall and slim, of black, short hair, a right blue eye, and the left covered with an eye patch, the white Lyria's clothes transforming along with her body, turning into a white sundress with a long skirt to her ankles with buttons, the back naked to the hips showing a tattoo identical to Lyria's jewel, the rest of her energy accumulates in the top of her head and takes the form of a white sun hat to match the dress.

"You are... A part of me?" Lyria manages to ask, the woman in question, nods happily and extends her hand to the girl, Lyria takes it and a sudden shock of energy invades her body, the headache is gone just like the burning sensation in her eyes, she feels relieved, and it shows in the fluster of her cheeks.

"I am my Lady's hope, so my name may as well be Hope too, this is the first time we see each other face to face, but I've known you since the moment I grow inside your heart," She explains, turning her face to Katalina, "I've known you since the first time that woman made you feel hope."

Everyone turns to Katalina, but she is just as startled as the rest of the group, "I did...? But wait, you're talking almost as if you are.." She is unable to finish the sentence, to finish what she's saying implies to say something ridiculous even though the current situation has surpassed that scale.

"But I thought I had explained it already?" Hope complains, scratching her hair, still holding onto Lyria's hand, "I'm the physical manifestation of my Lady's hope, for reasons yet unknown to me, I've abandoned my place in my Lady's soul, perhaps because of some external power I still can't understand, right now, I'm the absolute form of my Lady's hopes, just like my sister did."

"Excuse me... Did you just say your sister?" Petra asks reluctantly, the woman who identifies herself as Lyria's hope nods.

"But what's with that form of yours?" Vyrn interrupts before the conversation can go further, "You started by looking like if Lyria was covered in white paint, and now you're a whole different person!"

Hope smiles and elegantly swings her skirt, "Right? It is because my Lady has now woke up that I've taken this form," She begins to explain, Lyria looks at her with curiosity but also wondering when will she let go of her hand, "The psyche of my Lady doesn't seem to allow me to resemble her body, so to bear with a physical form while I'm outside her soul, her subconscious has given me a body made of all the people who have made grow hope inside of her."

"Now that you say it, your hair kind of looks like Djeeta's, but more... stylish?" Rosetta comments, making Djeeta pout loudly and making the group release some little laughs.

"Your voice is familiar too, it kind of reminds me to Apollo, yet is not," Katalina adds to the conversation, Hope only nods to their speculations.

"And I guess the patch in the eye kind of looks like the one Eugen wears, those are some weird choices," Io tells Hope with a little giggle.

"Well I'm not the one who picked them, but I'm glad everything has converged nicely and didn't make me look like some horrible monster," Hope tells to them with a giggle, but the end of that sentence makes everyone wave.

"So, you were telling us about your sister," Petra rewinds to her conversation, then the group goes silent remembering the other dark Lyria who seemed wanted to attack the original.

"Yes, just before I was... Let us say someway "expulsed", of my Lady's soul, my sister did first, and she must be found and stopped while we still have the time," Hope says while looking at Lyria.

"That sounds, dangerous, in a lot of ways..." Lyria trembles and flusters, then looks up to Hope, "But is it really necessary to hold my hand this long?" She complains, Hope, startled releases Lyria and takes a little step back.

"My apologies, Lady Lyria, I was just healing the sequels my sister did when she left your soul," She bows and gestures with her hand, the action she makes resembling one of a Sebastien does, "But I would recommend to stay close to me all the time, or at least, until I'm back inside your soul, because of my sister... she..."

Before Hope can continue talking, the sky darkens yet the sun keeps up in the air, the wind turns colder and the group is overwhelmed with a sensation just hours ago had them paralyzed on the floor, the ship shakes as black giant snakes made of a dark essence aboard the bow and combines in one entity, taking the shape of the dark Lyria, this time taller than before.

In an instance, Hope walks in front of Lyria and energy begins to glow from her left hand, "So you got a little bigger and it makes you think you can attack us again?!" Hope roars fiercely, the energy on her hand exploding like a balloon of water and taking the form of a rapier with a crystal blade, "Don't get cocky, you and I will be back to where we belong!"

The dark Lyria pants and shakes, holding on her stomach, the creature bends and barfs loudly on the floor, expulsing a dark oily substance from her mouth which flows like a river on the bow; by reflex, Hope grabs Lyria by the shoulder and pulls her close, while using the rapier to slash away the disgusting liquid, but the substance manages to touch the feet of everyone else, instantly paralyzing them again. “I’m sorry; please bear with it for a moment!” Hope cries to the group who is unable to reply back, deprived of energy and collapsing on the floor. “Djeeta, everybody… what is happening to them?!” Lyria asks to hope as her dark counterpart roars furious and prepares to charge against them in all fours.

“They’re overwhelmed by fear, but don’t worry, Lady Lyria, it’ll be over in a moment!” Hope releases the girl from the shoulder and holds her with her right hand, which Hope positions behind her back, were the little girl follows. The dark entity jumps at them, and Hope walks firmly against the creature, “Woah!” Lyria shouts as she’s dragged into the fight, peeking from behind Hope’s back, she looks at the woman who hits and counters her dark version long claws again and again. “H-hope!” Lyria stutters, trying to release herself from the woman’s hand “Please, let me go, I’m only holding you back!” She insists, the woman sends the dark Lyria away with her sword, then gestures with her weapon just like Charlotta's Holy Knights do, charging light energy into the blade, “My power comes from within your soul, as long as I’m holding onto you…” She whispers, the dark creature charges again but this time Hope sends a sharp wave of white energy against the creature, the dark version tries to dodge, but the energy cuts through her right shoulder, disintegrating her arm and make the monster convulse in the floor “… As long as I hold on to you, I’m unstoppable!” She shouts energetic, with a smile that brings comfort to Lyria.

 _“CONSUME!”_ The dark Lyria cries on the floor, slowly standing, bubbles come from the wound of her arm, her left hand desperately trying to reach the black puke on the floor, and when she touches it, it flows back into her body, releasing the crew from the curse, but leaving them unconscious. “W-w-what is she doing?!” Lyria asks scared as her dark version groans and screams, her body with bubbles around all her body. “Tch, it fed on everyone’s fear and is using it to regenerate her body!” Hope answers as she postures and goes back to recharge light energy, “Lady Lyria, I need you to focus on this next attack, I need your strength!” Hope cries, the wound on the dark Lyria right arm, exploding into a branch of dark energy which retracts and takes the shape of a giant arm, _“CONSUME TO BE COMPLETE!”_ The monster roars with indescribable rage, “Lady Lyria!” Hope insists, but the girl is overwhelmed with the situation, “But how I am supposed to help you?!” She asks desperately, and they’re both silenced by a long, and chilling growl from the creature who charges against them as her giant arm swings in the air making her run erratically.

The creature smiles and does a somersault, in the air, she prepares to dunk her arm on them, but in the last moment, the creature is repelled by an energy spell, flying towards the mast of the dock and hurting her back on it, both Hope and Lyria turn surprised to see Cagliostro standing on the bow, her hand smoking magic, followed from behind by Eugen and Rackam who points at the creature with their rifles while Neza hurries to look at the collapsed members. “Rest assure, the cutest girl in the world has come to save the day!”

The monster reincorporates again and howls, her giant arm taking new shape, and rocketing to Cagliostro, sending her to the other side of the ship, the dark creature uses her own arm to fly towards the alchemist girl, while Eugen and Rackam fiercely unload their rifles on the creature, just for their bullets to be absorbed inside her body. Hope takes the chance to turn to Lyria and hold her by the shoulders. “My Lady is now or never, you need me and I need you… no, everyone here needs you!” She explains, Lyria gazes towards Djeeta and the others who remain knocked out, she gulps saliva, and firmly turns her eyes back to Hope, “What… what do you need?” Lyria asks, Hope then thrust her rapier on the bow and kneels in front of it, gesturing like she’s praying, she closes her eyes and murms, “Put your hand on my back and remember, remember those who made you feel hope, those memories fuel me and make me stronger, just calm down and remember.” Lyria quietly nods and goes behind Hope, resting her hands on her back, she breaths deeply and does as told, slowly, both girls begin to glow in white energy, the weather gets warmer, the sky slowly brightens, “Is working, Lady Lyria you must continue!” Hope shouts and the little girl nods.

In the other side of the ship, Cagliostro struggles to release herself from the giant fingers that hold her on the up of the mast; the dark Lyria jumps over her hand and growls her putrid breath on the girl’s face, “You stink, get away from me your twisted version of Lyria!” Cag yells angrily, waving her legs trying to escape, the creature screams loudly at her, trying to intimidate her, but as Cagliostro just replies with a fierce smile, the creature remains confused about the situation. “You must be wondering why you can’t pull and absorb my fear uh?” The girl's attitude changes, realizing she has the upper hand, magic energy flows through her fingers making two energy balls in both hands, “Too sorry for you, I’m not one who shows and tells!” She shouts, blasting the creature with her alchemy, sending her flying back to the bow; Eugen hurries to catch Cag as she falls, but the girl gracefully falls with her heels on the man’s head, knocking him out.

The dark Lyria screams and rolls hurt, barely standing, she tries to regenerate again, bubbles appearing around her body, but before anything can happen, Hope dashes against her, glowing bright in white energy, holding on her hat, she swings her rapier at light speed, ripping both of her arms, then macing them both into cubes as they fly in the air and disintegrate. _“NO!”_ The creature helplessly howls, panting and disintegrating, her body growing smaller and her essence disappearing in the form of smoke. “Is time for you to come back with me where we belong!” Hope cries, and in the despair, the creature makes one last effort to charge against Lyria, just to be parry by Hope’s rapier, the dark Lyria takes now this chance to hold on the sword by the teeth and use the parry to fly away from the ship, “Crap, she got me!” Hope shouts baffled, running towards her sister, unable to catch her again, the dark Lyria then loses the rest of her body shape, turning into a snake that swims on the sea at incredible speed and vanishes from everyone’s sight.

"Hey lazybones is time for you to wake up," A feminine voice whispers to Djeeta, slowly opening her eyes, she finds herself tucked inside a blanket with Cagliostro. "Why... are you in bed with me?" The blonde girl gradually flustering, "Because a cute girl was in there," Cagliostro replied while caressing her cheek, leaving Djeeta hot red as she gets out of the bed; before the Captain can get back to her senses, the alchemist girl is already on the knob of the door, without looking at her, she mumbles, "The creature that looks like Lyria seems to be able to absorb and feed herself on people's fear..." She turns back to her Captain with a serious expression, "Due to the process I use to swap bodies, my emotions are... compressed and locked inside my soul, that's why the creature couldn't get anything from me... You and Lyria and that lizard are the only ones who know my secret, when the questions get asked, I desire your discretion," Then the young girl opens the door, just at time for Yaia, Vyrn and Io to come inside bumping with each other, Cagliostro looks one more time at Djeeta with a small smile before disappearing in the hallway.

"Captain you are finally awake!" Yaia happily shouts, bringing a plate of porridge with her and leaving it on the night table as the girls help to take Djeeta out of the blanket and fold it back into place. "I see everybody is doing fine..." Djeeta scratches her eye while Vyrn rests on her lap to be pet. "Hope, Cagliostro, the old geezer, and Rackam took care of the Lyria monster, for now, you need to eat and get your energies back, Captain~" Io explains to Djeeta, as Yaia takes the plate back and begins into a fight of wills to let the Captain by feed by her, a fight that Djeeta easily loses, munching on the porridge while Yaia and Io look at her with a smug smile.

"Myam!" Djeeta shouts all of a sudden with her mouth full of rice, the girl jumps out of the bed and looks for her boots and sword, still digesting the food. "Hey, that's gross, finish eating first!" Io complains, but the blonde girl just sits on the floor to put on her boots ignoring her, "Fef foof fuas food!" The girl continues before gulping down and adding her sword to the belt on her waist, "Thanks Yaia, sorry I can't eat the rest, bye!" She finishes with a tricky smile, hurrying to escape from the confinement of the room.

From the hallways to the stairs, Djeeta scales from the women's bedrooms to the bow, the salt on the wind tells her they're still in the Isles, the bright sun getting on her eyes, she stops on her track, covering her eyes with an arm when - CLANK SMASH CLANK- the uproar of a sword fight calls her attention, but the bow is empty, the Captain walks up to the front border of the ship where she gazes Katalina and Hope, interchanging hits with their blades, while Lyria looks at them distressed, "Hey, what is happening?!" Djeeta shouts thinking of the worst, taking a leap out of the ship and on the harbor, the women instantly stop fighting and give her a smile, folding their swords.

"Oh, Djeeta, you're finally up," Katalina giggles as the girl run exasperated to them, "Don't worry, we were just putting to test a theory of Hope," She explains, the girl bends and breaths fast, exhaustion and a stomach filled with rice is a bad combination. "A theory... you say?" Djeeta pants, Hope and Lyria walk to the girl, Lyria trying to help Djeeta to stand up again, "I'm trying to explain to Katalina I'm stronger when I'm close to Lyria, but she didn't want to believe me, so we were training to prove me right," Hope explains, walking to the Captain while holding on her sun hat with one hand.

"You okay?" Lyria asks shyly. "Yes, I'm getting better with the time," Djeeta hurries to reply with a forced smile as she recovers, "So, was Hope right?" She asks to Katalina, who nods frustrated, "Her swings got stronger and faster the closest she got to Lyria and vice-versa, but even so," she crosses her arms while turning her face to Hope, "While is positive you get stronger when fighting alongside Lyria, I can't just allow you to bring her to the front lines, is too risky," Katalina expresses with a serious tone, which Hope to the contrary, replies with a kiddy pout. "Is okay, Katalina!" Lyria interrupts them, running behind Hope, who instinctively kneels; and almost in synchrony, Lyria jumps over her back, wrapping her legs around Hope's abdomen and clenching a thumbs up, smiling wide to Katalina, "This way I can fight with Hope without trouble," She shouts happily as Hope posses proud, Djeeta and Katalina in the other side, look at them disappointed of what they think is the perfect solution.

"First things first," Djeeta cuts the conversation, "Is everyone on the ship all right? And, what is exactly happening?" She wonders to the group, their facial expressions changes; Djeeta, Hope and Katalina sit on a bench while Lyria runs around the harbor, playing with Vyrn, Yaia, and Io. "The dark creature who resembles Lady Lyria and has been stalking us is my sister, and my counterpart, _Fear,"_ Hope calmly begins to explain to the Captain, "After the second attack, we treated you and the others who fell unconscious, just like you, they were mostly exhausted, but not hurt," She fixes her hair with one hand and continues, "Contrary to me, my sister, she can't take an actual physical form, so she stays like this, oily Lyria-shaped-liquid" she pauses and stands up, Katalina then frowns and point at Hope with a finger while looking at Djeeta, "Now you see, _this_ is where things get complicated."

"Fear is trying to take possession of my Lady Lyria's body, so she can have a physical form and be complete, for that she's feeding herself on other living beings' fear," Hope tells with a serious face, Djeeta then remembers the fight on the bow, and remembers the oily liquid that invaded her body and paralyzed her, "You felt it too right?" Hope asks while walking in front of the Captain, "That thing crawls and pierces through your heart, it feeds on your fears and emotional scars making itself stronger," The woman gestures with the palm of her hand, and a small sphere of energy grows over, "While I'm my sister counterpart, perhaps, an anti-version of her, and also posses a physical form, she can easily surpass me," Hope then passes the small orb of white energy to Djeeta hands', "Fear is something all living beings are born with, right now, my sister must be feeding herself to make her stronger, but I, I can't do the same," The black-haired woman turns to Lyria with a bittersweet smile, "People need to grow hope in them for me to extract it and use it as energy, and that's is no easy task, right now, the amount of hope in Auguste is..." She turns back to Djeeta and points to the orb, "As small as that, while the energy my sister feeds on is hundreds of times bigger," She sighs, then sits back on the bench, looking at Lyria play with her friends almost with adoration on her eyes.  
  
"But even with this small amount, there's a chance," Djeeta replies, startling Hope in surprise, "It does sound you have hard chances to win against your sister, but as long as there's a small opportunity to win, we must take it," She turns to Hope, "Earlier when we were talking, Lyria was really comfortable with you," She adds to her with a smile, Hope flusters and looks aside, "Y-yes, once I explained things to her, she got more comfortable with me around, and asked me to let her help in the hunt down of my sister," She giggles awkwardly as Djeeta stands and looks at the scenery, recovered and decided, "But wait a minute," Djeeta quickly turns her head in confusion, "What do we do after we get your sister? How do we get you and Fear back inside of Lyria?"

Hope opens her mouth but nothing comes out, she raises a finger trying to come out with an answer but is all in vain. "That's where I come in handy," Cagliostro adds all of a sudden, walking to the group and calling the attention of Lyria and the others who reunite and conglomerate, "I think I get the idea of what is happening, follow me."

  
 _\- HYAAAAH-_ An old man shouts inside of the ship, the group of Syfarers looks helplessly how Cagliostro had held captive a man for what in the alchemist words was a scientist who helped in the construction of the weapon that was used to shoot Lyria. When Eugen and Rackam went to the sea to look for Cagliostro and Nezahualpilli whereabouts, they had found the two waiting to be rescued in the floating leftovers of the enemy ship, Neza carrying with him an old man tied in ropes and a smashed piece of machinery, then after leaving to treat the group who fell victim of the second attack, Cag had taken custody of the old man, dragged him inside of the ship, and tortured him until he would spill the beans. After that explanation, feeling a bit bad for the man, but remembering he was one of the responsible of hurting Lyria, the group would just stare at him as Cagliostro just kicked him out of the chair he was held in, fall on the floor, then having his cheek pierced by Cag's heel. "Now, tell them what you told to me, HURRY UP," the alchemist girl shouts with her usual devilish tone, scaring the man alive, who begins to narrate his story with a shaky voice, "Our lead research scientist... Doctor August, send us off in a mission to use this new machine that converges emotions, with the blue girl" Cagliostro pushes her heel deep on his face, the man cries and tries to talk faster, "Our, our research found that with this machine it was possible to replicate primal beasts by using their emotions, but, Dr. August made us use it on this girl first, probably because he was obligated by the man who handed him the machine in the first place..." The group mumbles between them after that explanation, Rosetta steps in, "The man you talk about... who would that be?" They hold their breath waiting for an answer, "I think... I think he calls him 'Loki', yeah," Cagliostro then turns her eyes to Djeeta, who reacts furious and displeased, but before she can shout anything, Lyria shyly holds her by the wrist, the Captain looking at the worried expression of her partner, takes a deep breath and calms down, then looks back at Cagliostro, "Throw him back where you found him when you're done," The alchemist girl grins maliciously to the man who cries in fear, she takes the rope and as Djeeta walks away, with the crew following her confused, Cagliostro follows them from behind, humming a song as the man begs for mercy.  
  
"Where are you going?!" Katalina wonders worried, trying to walk as fast as the angry Djeeta. "We are going to find that August dude and get the machine to solve this!" Djeeta answers angrily, "Do you even know where to find him?" Io asks in the hurry, in the hallway, Djeeta turns to Cag, who fixing the rope over her shoulder as she pulls the man to throw him out, "He already spilled in which island they're hiding, it would take a bit of time to reach there though," Djeeta nods then continues walking out to the bow and to the wheel of the ship, "But what are we going to do if Loki is with them?!" Vyrn asks, trying too to shake some sense inside the Captain before she makes any rushed decision, but the girl has her mind settled, and by pulling the levers around the wheel she gets the Grancypher engine to start, Rackam, cringed by the rough way she's handling the instruments of the ship, hurries to take control of the wheel by himself, meanwhile, Cagliostro kicks the man to the board of the bow, who cries and screams as he notices the ship starting to fly on the sky. "Please, don't! I can help you guys to get inside the laboratory!" He begs, but Cagliostro gives him a one, last smile before gently bumping him with her shoe, "Captain's orders, bye-bye!" She replies with an acute tone as the man rolls and falls, still tied, inside the ocean, screaming for help.  
  
The evening falls over the sky, the Grancypher's engine buzzing clean and loud as the crew flies to their destination, golden and orange rays of the sunset basking the bow in its tones; as Rackam drives the wheel firmly, Djeeta sits on one of the benches, feeling the cold wind of the night on her face, Lyria resting asleep with her head on her lap, at the same time, Vyrn sleeping on Lyria's arms. From the doors of inside the ship, A white glowing Lyria appears holding two mugs of coffee, giving one to Rackam then one to Djeeta, sitting on the floor in front of her, "I see... you have gone back to that form," Djeeta stutters a bit impressed, "Yes, is because Lady Lyria is sleeping, once she wakes up, I should retake my other form," Her reply is made with the same voice of the blue girl, it seems she loses all her individual specs when Lyria is unconscious. "I understand why you got angry earlier," Hope says with a sad smile, "I possess all of my Lady memories, so I do remember your experiences with Loki," She then gently pets Lyria's hair, "Every time I think we have shaken him off, he appears again," Djeeta bitterly complains, but Hope gives her a smile, "Was something about that funny?" The Captain wonders confused, "Is not that, is just that I know... the way you react is because you love Lyria so much, you want her to be safe, and it frustrates you when she's in danger," Hope tells her while looking at the sunset, the very last shine touching on Djeeta's face, highlighting her red, embarrassed expression, Hope giggles as the night finally takes the lead, and in the darkness, the glow of her skin makes her look like a blue firefly, "Is OK, is not like I'm running here and there telling everyone else about your memories," She continues with her innocent laughing, Djeeta just remains silent and soothes her frustration by sipping on the coffee.

Far on the east, a merchant ship of Skyfarers was following the same route as the crew, when from the distance, a member who was taking the vigilant turn on the top of the mast, spots what looks like a comet bursting on flames, and immediately rings the emergency bell, waking up everyone, who takes upon arms and run to the bow in distress. "Is it pirates?!" A Doraph asks angrily, the human on the mast points on the sky to the comet-like thing, everyone looks at the figure both incurious and being wary, but when the comet flies closer to them, they notice a feminine figure riding on top, what at first looked like a comet from afar, up close was even more bizarre, it was a giant sword, propelled by blazing energy, in the distance, it begins to echo louder and louder:

  
**_"I breathe fire! And nothing can't stop me now~! Unstoppable! My music is burning love~!"_ **

  
"Oh, I know!" One of the humans on the bow shouts, quickly dropping his gun, "That's not a pirate, that's Satyr!" He exclaims excited, looking for binoculars on his waist to look up close. "Satyr you mean, the Primal Beast that is known because of her singing and dancing?" The Doraph asks, the group of thirty men, drive from being wary to be excited, quickly and happily, they change their guns for light signals, hoping for Satyr to spot them on sight, which she does by replying waving her hand on the distance. "She looks smoking hot!" One of the men eagerly yells, they have all pulled telescopes and binoculars to watch the Primal Beast saluting them, "Captain, let's have her over so she sings for us!" Another man screams excited to the one driving the wheel of the ship, in doubt, but unable to hide he's as excited as his crew, silently nods while adding, "I've heard she doesn't do spectacles for free though, whatever she asks for will come from your salaries," The group doesn't even think twice, they all howl together while the vigilant tries to signal Satyr that she's invited to their ship.

"Huh, Skyfarers are always such fun!" Satyr laughs and nods to the signal she's been given, her sword quickly zapping in the sky and changing directions until she lands on the tips of her heels over the fence of the ship. "Hello, guys! Are you all fans of the cute Satyr? I hope you are ready for a spectacle!" She tells the men, who make a loud uproar of excitement that even intimidates the Primal Beast, but just as soon as that, an even angrier, and scarier howl is heard from the distance.

  
**_"CONSUME"_ **

  
Everyone remains silent and scared, suddenly the vigilant rings the alarm again, "Something's coming in front of us, be ready!" He shouts from the mast, everyone hurries to look back for their guns as a cloud of dark energy begins to show up from upfront, growing bigger the closer it gets to the ship. "Miss Satyr, please stay behind us, we will protect you!" One of the humans tells to the Primal Beast, to which she awkwardly nods; Satyr, still on the fence, spots on the incoming cloud and notices impressed the shape of hundreds of human-looking girls swimming in the air altogether, she bends and gestures with her fingers as if she were holding on binoculars "Oyo? I've never seen anything like that! They kind of feel like a Primal Beast, but not quite, what would that be?" She wonders in an acute tone, but before anyone can talk, the cloud fastens its speed and the chilling, scaring howl is heard once again.

"All right everybody, shoot 'em down!" The Captain cries as he makes a sudden turn on the wheel, making ship shake and skid on mid-air, managing to make the dark cloud fly over their heads, the men unload their rifles on the howling creatures that desperately try to get a hold of them with their hands, but failing and exploding from the piercing of the bullets. The men on the bow cry victorious as they leave behind the dark cloud and the Captain accelerates to lost track of whatever tried to get a hold of them, but the creatures don't give up, the cloud changes shapes for more a small and thin version that rockets to the ship and crashes on the bow. _"RECHARGE!"_ Is the only thing Satyr manages to hear from that crew, followed by the noises of bullets being load on the cartridges again, the dark creature, which resembles a small girl of long hair, incorporates over the crashing zone and barfs, the liquid quickly growing like a broken dam, drowning and suffocating the men who were trying to load their guns. "Miss Satyr... run!" The Captain yells as he's being dragged into the obscure, oily pool with the rest of the men, but when the oily liquid splatters over the Primal Beast, it loses vitality and falls over like dust. "Weird, looks like whatever you're trying to do it doesn't work on me!" Satyr giggles then turn her eyes to the group of men who drown in the oil, "Oh, right, wait a minute, I'll get you guys out there on a second!" She says while pulling her sword, instantly, the dark oily girl charges at her, but Satyr just smiles as she contains the attack, and when a bright, purple-pink fire begins to emanate from her sword, the creature pulls away intimidated. "You probably would get away with your evildoers in normal circumstances, too bad that's not happening today!" Satyr posses elegantly holding her sword with the right, then with her left hand she points at the sky and flicks her wrist. _"COME, PELTHRONAN!"_ She cries and then multiple swords rain from the clouds into the bow, exploding into a fire and creating distance between her and the creature; smaller swords continue falling, these rain and pierce over the liquid holding captive the crew of men, and the multiple explosions release them from the liquid, all of them collapsing on the bow, exhausted and unconscious, "Hey, are you guys ok?!" Satyr asks shocked, thinking she may have hit them too hard, just to be interrupted by a howl of the creature, angrily looking at Satyr, the liquid prisoning the men finishes releasing them, then flows back to the source, the girly creature, who grows wide and tall, her shape losing the one of a girl and turning into some monster with deformed arms, looking at this, even at this point Satyr takes a step back scared, "W-what happened? Did you just drank an elixir...?" She stutters jokingly, but the creature answers by angrily growling at her, using its own arms as propellers, it charges against Satyr, who unsheathes her sword one more time; at the moment the creature prepares to hit her with the left arm, a wall of ice divides them, then a rain of blocks of ice makes the dark entity jump steps back.  
  
"So weird to see you fighting, Satyr" The voice of a woman says, behind her back, Satyr turns impressed to see Macula Marius landing on the bow, shooting multiple blocks of ice to the creature which dodges them at incredible speed. "Macky, so long no see!" Satyr shouts happily and tries to hug her, but Macula stops her by holding on her face with the right hand and keeping the distance. "I was minding my own business when this thing tried to attack me, whatever it does doesn't seem to affect Primal Beasts, and I thought to leave it be but then..." Macula tries to explain but bits her lower lip at mid-sentence, "But then?" Satyr asks confused, the bow is a chaos of oil, fire, and blocks of ice melting all over the place. "Just like it happened here when its attack on me failed, it went and attacked some ships that flew near me, I felt responsible since then and I've been chasing this creature," Before the ice Lady can continue, the creature charges at them one more time, just to be swiftly rejected away by Macula staff and Satyr blade. "But is this thing really dangerous?" Satyr insists, pointing at the group of people collapses, "If all it does it knock people out shouldn't we just let them be?" To what Macula replies by taking a couple of steps in front of Satyr and swing her staff, freezing the creature legs on the bow. "Is not a menace for us Primals, but is for any other living creature, is vicious and destructive, and it seems to feed itself on the negative emotions to grow stronger," The ice Primal explains, she then postures to deal the final blow, "OK, then let's get rid of it, I have a spectacle to give!" Satyr cheerfully agrees; both women prepare to execute the creature when its stomach inflates, Satyr takes the lead and leaps over it. "You gonna throw that liquid again uh, as if!" She swings her sword to the neck of the creature but is all in vain, "Is not going to barf Satyr, is a trap!" Macula cries, but the creature had already expulsed, a dense cloud of dark gas, confusing Satyr and disappearing from Macula's sight, between flames and frozen wind, the Primal Beasts disperse the gas away, just to find the creature used that chance to run away. "Crap, it also did that the last time I cornered it, I should have been more careful," Macula bitterly complains, while Satyr sobs like a baby on the floor, her clothes all covered in black dust, Macula brings her hands to her mouth, shocked and embarrassed, "Ma-cu-la, why didn't you say it sooner?!" The girl cries fighting futile to wipe the dust off her clothes. "I'm ashamed..." Macula stutters and pats the girl's head slowly.  
  
"Hey, wake up," a crying voice mumbles to a Doraph man, slowly waking up over Satyr's lap, the man screeches embarrassed and surprised, immediately standing up, "Miss Satyr?!" The man yells realizing she was crying, the man's heart clutches, "Don't tell me... you were so worried for me you started crying?!" He shouts, driving on a fantasy, but Satyr doesn't pay him attention, "Yeah, yeah whatever, hurry up and show me your bathroom, I want to clean my clothes, I'm all dirty!" She explains with a sobbing tone, the man is even more shocked now, "M-my bathroom?! Oh r-right, the ship's bathroom YES! You can use it to clean yourself, Miss Satyr, please, here!" He rushes to gesture to the doors that lead inside the ship, Satyr cleans the tears from her eyes and nods, following the man inside. "S-satyr, wait, what are you going to do?" Macula stutters, the woman has been rendered captive by the other rest of the men, who have circled around the her, enticed by her beauty, trying to chat with her, the ice Primal begs for Satyr to save her from that situation from the distance, "I'm going to get myself clean first, then we are going to hunt that thing down for messing with my clothes!" Satyr confesses to her, not before sticking out her tongue, as trying to tell her to suck it and deal with the men by herself.

After some hours, the fire Primal comes back all clean and with her humor renewed, "Phew, that was a nice shower!" She sighs, cleaning her face with a towel, both her and the Doraph, still jinxed in his own fantasy, go back to the bow, where they find the group of men distanced to Macula by almost ten meters, except by two members, both humans; one of them, trembling while trying to pour hot tea on the cup she's holding, the other, frozen alive into an ice rock right beside her. "I was just wondering why everything got silent up here, Macky, you went too far!" Satyr complains while the other just shrugs, the Primal leaves the towel over the frozen man and sits besides Macula, "Give me a cup of tea too please!" She gently asks the man, and when being pierced by Macula stare, he just screeches scared and hurries to bring another cup and pour hot water in it. "So, where can we find that dark-looking thing?" Satyr asks, whispering thanks to the man who gives her the teacup and hurries to walk away from them, "I'm not sure to where it's headed and for what purpose, but it follows this route all from the east to west, it never changes, just devours everything it finds at sight."

"If I may..." The Captain of the crew raises his hand, a bit shaking, Macula, takes a long sip of her tea and then nods, "There are stories, that far on the west, inhabited islands are being used for illegal kinds of research by the Empire," Macula meditates on the man's words then gestures him with a finger to walk closer, he does as told and renews his talk. "Is... All we have heard are rumors though, but that's what all people believe," He continues, a bit shaky, looking at his frozen crew member, "So that dark creature could be an experiment of humans that came out wrong?" Satyr asks to Macula while drinking tea, "It seems that way, which gives us more reasons to leave this business to the Skyfarers, what do you say?" She turns back to the fire Primal, who shakes her head and points at her dress, "Hm-mh, this took two hours to clean, I need revenge," She insisted, making Macula giggle, the ice lady then stands up and holding on her staff, touched the ice rock with the tip, cracking it open and releasing the human from it. "Take him to the bathroom, an pour hot water on him until he wakes up, hurry!" The Captain shouts, in doubt but firm to follow his orders, the men approach the Primal Beasts and carry the man inside the ship. "Well then, it was a pleasure to meet you all... or not, but we have to leave," Macula stutters, holding her staff on a horizontal position, she releases it and begins to float mid-air, where she sits and begins to levitate up and out the ship, leaving frozen dust on her track, the men, between intimidated and excited, bid the ice Lady goodbye, Satyr, on the other hand, takes the Captain of the ship and smooches his forehead, the crew howling in envy as the man bluhes red, "I owe you guys a concert, next time will be, OK?" She winks at them and leaps on the voids of the sky, where one of her blades catches the girl and sits on it, disappearing with Macula in the distance, in a combination of ice and flames.

A new day draws as the Grancypher crew navigate towards unknown skies, and the bow, from the early morning, is already loud and crowded. With their mood renewed, From Eugen to Io, Rackam, and Katalina, even Rosetta, have all grouped together, each one of them interchanging blows with Hope, the white entity had recovered her usual form now that Lyria was awake, and unlike the others, she didn't seem to show any signs of fatigue or exhaustion, Katalina would spook the woman by piercing through her open spots, but besides smiling, they wouldn't get any other expression from her, which was frustrating for some, as they were seriously fighting against her, while the sword Lady seemed to be just practicing, learning from their attacks and growing smarter and stronger on her sword skill. Neza would charge against her just for Hope to dance behind his back, baiting Djeeta to come closer and make her bump with the prince and make them both drop on the floor; gracefully holding on her sun hat, she would throw it to use it as a distractor for Rosetta line of vision and ambush her, just for Io to rush and shield the rose Lady with her staff, getting thrown away from the circle. Last but not least, Katalina would charge in, which for some reason made Hope smile grow wide, she tried her best to copy the woman's stance and thrusts, they continually finished each encounter by repelling each other with splashes of water and light energy.

"Phew, that was a great training session!" Djeeta sighs happily while folding her sword, "Lyria, you can come out now," She adds, closing her eyes, the girl begins to glow in light until the girl comes out from behind Djeeta's back. "I forgot to take into account you two could do that," Hope tells them as she draws close and reabsorbs her light sword, "That way Lady Lyria can be near me while fighting my sister without getting hurt," She adds, giving a towel to Djeeta, who gestures her thanks and dries her face, "No fair, I wanted to fight too!" Yaia complains, swinging her pan back and forth hysterically, the group just giggles to her tantrum, which makes her angrier.

"Now, as long as we don't face Loki," Djeeta thinks to herself when she's interrupted by a masculine voice inside her head, "Why would you fear Loki when you possess the power to surpass the Astrals, singularity?" Djeeta jumps startled, then faking composure with the group, she gives them the back and closes her eyes. "Belial, I don't need this right now," She speaks on her mind, vague images of the fallen Primarch showing from the mist appear on her thoughts, "I'm just saying, there's nothing and no one who can stop you, or is that you know fear the power you yourself crafted so desperately?" Djeeta opens her eyes, she can feel it from the distance, in the basement of the ship, the newly forged Primach weapons calling for her name, "That power is out of the discussion, Hope can do it, and I would like you to stop using my mind as a vacation house," She continues mumbling to herself, the group begins to stare at the girl in confusion, the fallen angel frowns and laughs, shaking his head as he disappears in the mist. "Is everything OK?" Lyria wonders, peeking from the group at Djeeta, who nervously turns back and nods.

The group continues their chit-chat as they fold and put their weapons back into place, they especially find amusing at how Hope doesn't let Lyria walk away from her and follows the girl every two meters; then Eugen and Rackam appear from inside the ship, bringing tables and chairs, while Io and Yaia follows, bringing plates and cutlery, the rest of the crew help to get everything ready, and after that, Lyria and Rosetta bring out the food, everyone sitting together in the made-up table, sharing laughs and thoughts, passing the food over the head of others.

"Is all lively up here huh," A cranky voice tells from afar, Cagliostro, still on pajamas had just woke up, the group sighs in mixed feelings as the girl approaches, Rackam hurries to take an empty chair which Cag quickly grabs and carries it between Lyria and Djeeta, interrupting their conversation, everyone awkwardly giggles but nobody really complains, Hope just smiles wide for having Lyria all for herself. "Good morning dear..." Djeeta whispers then mutes herself instantly, both her and Cagliostro blushing red as the group stares at them in confusion, below the table, Cagliostro hits the Captain's ankle, "D-desire some coffee?" Djeeta shouts after being hit, the alchemist girl nods silently and gets her coffee served, "Say, Cagliostro, why are you still on pajamas?" Vyrn asks the girl while munching on an apple. "Well, unlike you, I haven't had time to waste in fruitless demonstrations of skill, I've been researching the machinery Nezahualpilli pulled from out the ship the other day," Vyrn tries to spite back, but Djeeta gestures him to let it go instead.

"Did you find a way to go back to my Lady's soul?" Hope wonders, struggling with Lyria to let her spoon feed her, "I get the general mechanism of the gadget, it pulls out someone's emotion and uses it to converge it into a copy of that someone," The girl takes a sip of her warm drink, Djeeta silently gives her a plate of food as she explains, Cag thanks her by gesturing with her head, her while the other leaves the table and gently caressing Djeeta's leg below the table, the Captain squirms surprised, but this time manages so no one can notice. "It took quite a time to find how to reverse the process, but I did it, I had to sleep extra hours so my beauty sleep wouldn't get interrupted though," At that moment everyone holds their breath and looks at Cagliostro, this time is Rackam who makes the question, "So we don't need to fly to that laboratory anymore?" Cag shakes her head, Djeeta moves her hand below the table and wraps her fingers together, this time is the alchemist girl who shakes and blushes, "Erhm, we do, we do need to go the island," She leaves the cup of coffee over the table to don't drop it, giving Djeeta a furious stare, "There are no pieces in the Grancypher that can replicate the gun they had on the ship not even if I use reverse engineering," the group sighs and continues having their breakfast, the conversations revives the mood and even Cagliostro joins to it, all while sharing sweet-nothings with the Captain, rubbing their fingertips together under the table.

As the trip continues, Rackam is guided by Cagliostro instruction over the clouds, the atmosphere gradually begins to change, the clouds get denser and swallow the sun on the sky, the weather begins to get colder, but this time they know is not because of Fear, but because of the territory, Petra steps up infront on the ship and begins a prayer, then releases a golden wind from her staff that covers the Grancypher complete, warming everyone up. But the sky continues to darken, and Io and Rosetta help by turning on the lamps outside. "Is barely noon, how it got so dark?!" Eugen complains, holding on a lamp trying to look on the sky frustrated, he looks at Rackam, who looks back at him and pulling the levers beside the wheel, the man makes the engine stop, it doesn't take much time for everyone to come out of the to the bow. "I'm sorry, I can't navigate like this," Rackam sighs, Djeeta stares out in the sky, front and behind her, everything is pitch black. "I'm afraid to say we are lost..." Eugen adds, the group begins to worry, not even the lamps aren't helping to illuminate the way, that is when a comet of flames lands on the bow, the flames disperse and Satyr charges instantly against Lyria, in the same blink, Hope has drawn her sword and counters Satyr blade, "I finally found you, you are going to pay for dirting up my clothes small Lady!"

Katalina, Petra, and Rosetta run towards the Primal Beast instantly, but they're imprisoned inside an ice cage when grouping together, "Don't worry, we'll take care of this fast," Macula tells them as she slowly lands on the bow, Io and Nezahualpilli don't hesitate to fight back, Macula steps forward, almost like dancing, retaining the hits from the spear and the spells from the girl's staff, Cagliostro dashes from behind, but Macula stomps the bow on the floor and pushes all three away with a freezing blow of air.

Satyr continues to fight against Hope, the creature of light is easily overwhelmed by the strength of the Primal Beast, until Djeeta appears from behind, pushing Satyr to leap upon the sky and dodge their swords. "Why are you both protecting that thing?! Macky, I thought it was an enemy of the Syfarers!" Satyr complains, pulling another sword and filling it with purple-pink flames, she flies back to the bow and tries to hit Lyria again, but the Captain and Hope cross their swords to repel the attack together. "We have come here to get rid of that thing, please, let us do our work," Macula shouts, freezing on their tracks Io and Rackam, then having a fight of elemental spells with Cagliostro on a one-on-one, each one trying their best to push the other out of the bow. "You got it wrong, Lyria isn't the creature!" Rosetta shouts from the ice cage, but both Primal Beasts ignore her. "You can say whatever you want..." Satyr tells raising her hand in the sky, "But I would never forget the face of the one who stained my clothes, take this... uh?" Suddenly, Satyr mood drops, her swords vanishing in flames, Macula stares confused, "What's wrong? You already had them." Satyr shakes her head and points to Lyria, "Macky, this isn't the creature, she looks like it, but this is a human."

After a long conversation, and having Macula unfreeze the crew and liberate them from the ice cage, the Primal Beasts and them seem to reach an understanding. "My deepest apologies for what happened early, we followed the course of the creature up to your ship and confused this Lyria girl with her," Macula explains and gestures in sorry, "Reaaaally sowy sowy sowy sowy!" Satyr adds, squishing alive the poor Lyria, followed by Hope who tries to pull Satyr away full of rage. As the Primal Beasts share their information so far with the crew and vice-versa, they manage to find a middle ground, where both elemental ladies choose to temporarily join the crew in the extermination of the dark Lyria, known by the group as "Fear."

Up in the sky, Rackam uses Satyr's blazing sword trail to drive the Grancypher around the pitch-black sky, after some hours, Satyr flies back to the ship, signaling the group they have reached a chain of islands. Rackam shuts the engine off again, using only the wind to propel the ship over the chain of islands, finally overcoming the mask of dense clouds, they hurry to put the lamps off, after observing the place for a while with a telescope, Eugen spots a rough, modern installation in the biggest island, but the Primal Beasts and Hope shake their heads when asked if they could feel the dark Lyria close, not having time to wonder about their whereabouts, instead, they use the chance to bring the Nightcypher out and tune it ready for an infiltration mission.

Cagliostro, Djeeta, Hope, Katalina, Lyria and Vyrn squeeze each other inside the small ship, where Hope insists to have Lyria sit over her lap, Katalina groans furious, being her who sits over Hope's lap instead, and Cagliostro doing the same with Djeeta. Macula and Satyr are the first who fly off the ship, following crew advice, they maintain a silent path to the docks of the installations, far away from the distance, the Nightcypher follows, slowly and steadily so the engine doesn't make up any noise.

\- BOOM! BLAST! - The plan continues, as the Granchyper shoots their canons to the installations, while the Nightcypher sneaks from behind, the alarms and sirens begin to ring loud, when the turrets unfold from the dirt and target the flying ship, the Primal Beasts take up this chance to frozen and melt these machine guns, surprising the soldiers who had come out to defend the place, the following is a lost match, both Macula and Satyr take no effort in surpassing the firepower from the soldiers, and having their blind spots being covered by the Grancypher canons, there was almost nothing the enemy could do.

Meanwhile, the small black ship successfully lands on the enemy territory without anyone noticing, the group of women and Vyrn quickly step out of it and begin a furtive run towards the installations through the forest. "We need to continue this way and we'll find an emergency door, we can get inside the laboratory that way, after that you just need to take me to energy converging engine and I'll do the rest..." Cagliostro explains while whispering to Katalina, who nods and takes the lead in search of the door, "Oho, And what exactly are you going to do once you find the engine?" A masculine voice that stops Djeeta on her tracks says with a mocking tone, the girl turns back with an expression filled with rage; resting over a tree, there was Loki, looking at the group with a malicious smile, Djeeta unsheathes her sword and prepares for the fight, losing her temper with the seconds when a beast appears from the depths of the forest, throwing a fist to the girl who barely manages to parry it with her sword, realizing the blade had frozen with the touch of the fist of the feral, Djeeta looks horrified at the sudden appearance of Fenrir, who groans angrily to the group. "Oh, is too soon to be surprised yet, Fenrir is not the main plate of the day after all," Loki exclaims, and slowly, the oily dark liquid begins to form from the dirt and take the shape of Lyria, the creature runs to the group as Fenrir jumps on the sky and sends ice stakes at them. Hope is the first to charge against the enemy, fast and precise, the woman swings her sword, making it whistle on an attempt to behead her sister yet failing, "This doesn't have any sense, I never felt her here!" Hope cries, her sword clashing with her sister claws over and over, "That's because of me," Loki says, adding laughter, "I saw a new possible friend in this... dark Lyria, I have to confess this experiment went far beyond my expectations," He continues, Fenrir keeps floating over the sky, summoning ice stakes from her cursed chains and plate to rain over the group, Djeeta, and Katalina both slashing away the ice, unable to hit her back from land. "Lyria, do it!" Djeeta shouts, "Y-yes, right on it!" the girl replies with a serious tone, she runs to the Captain while glowing bright, then disappearing in white light, her soul fusing together with Djeeta, "Cagliostro, Katalina, you need to get inside the laboratory, we'll buy you guys time!" Djeeta yells to them, the woman chooses to don't discuss her orders and just nod, turning their backs to the fight and leaving the group of girls and Vyrn alone. "You guys don't seem to understand... your efforts are all in vain, even if you reverse the process," Loki tells to the girls, slowly walking towards them, then increasing his speed and drawing a sword to charge against Djeeta, "You don't know that you won't stop us!" The Captain cries, trying her best to retain Loki hits while dodging Fenrir ice stakes.

"Say Macky, do you want to come back with me after we get this done? I owe those guys a concert, and Skyfarer money is fun to use!" Satyr explains to Macula while holding one of the soldiers up by their face, then tossing the man away like a piece of paper. "Not so sure, remembering those guys gives me the chills," Macula replies, stomping her staff on the floor to frozen alive five men who started charging against the Primal women, "Wait, was that an ice joke?" Satyr giggles surprised, she turns back and waves her blade in the sky, signaling the Grancypher to land, "You aren't the only one with a sense of humor, besides..." Macula pauses, as the Grancypher draws close, she swings her staff and concentrates her ice magic, freezing the air on the harbor, slowly creating a place to land, "Dancing and singing... that's only something you enjoy, and I don't know how to do it." Satyr then dashes in front of Macula and holds her by the shoulders, "Even more reasons to do it, let me teach you! We will be a fantastic singing duo!" The girl exclaims overly excited, trying to pull away the more Satyr draws her face close, extending her hand in the air, she gestures, "And they will call us, 'Frozen Fire', it'll be awesome!" The girls happily jumping over the same place, waiting for the already uncomfortable ice Lady to reply when the Grancypher lands over the ice, "Oh isn't getting cold over here? Hey, they made it!" Macula scrubs her own shoulders then runs to the ship. "Hey, enough with the ice jokes!" Satyr complains trying to catch her friend again.

From afar in the forest, a cold, cursed wind emanates and reaches the harbor, birds fly and scatter in the sky. "Woah, did anyone else felt that too?" Rackam trembles while sliding down out of the ship. "Uhm, it felt like that dark creature, but sightly," Macula answers as she meets with the group, slowly followed by Satyr, "Didn't you guys and Hope said that Fear wasn't here yet?" Eugen yells from the top of the ship displeased, "We were unable to detect their energy, but that thing is not a Primal Beasts, to begin with, so it wouldn't be weird to lost track of it," Macula continues, all while slowly walking away from an angry Satyr who tries to catch her.  
"There she is, Miss Satyr, we've come to help!"

The group hears from afar, up in the sky, a flying ship approaches, both Eugen and Rackam prepare their rifles, but Satyr stops them mid-way as she smiles wide and shouts "Yahoo! You are such dedicated fans! Did you guys followed me all the way here, I'm so glad!" From the harbor, they can hear the men flying on the sky making a loud uproar, making Satyr jump happily and Macula to take some steps back disgusted. "You called for back up?" Neza wonders as he, Io, Petra, and Rosetta leave the ship. "Na'ah, they're just fans of the cutest girl in the world, they're here for a concert!" The group looks at her baffled, "Did she say 'the cutest in the world' right?" Io stutters picturing incoming trouble when the situation is over, Rosetta just pats her in the shoulder and shakes her head, "It will be better if Cagliostro never finds out," She adds, also a bit terrified.  
Macula prepares a site to land for the second ship as well, they take a couple of minutes to reach the place and disembark. As Satyr explains to them the current situation, the men quickly bring out boxes of rifles to load and get ready for the next step and renewed by extra forces, both crew and Primal Beasts run to the entrance of the laboratory, where Satyr fans build a trench while Rosetta, Io, Petra Satyr and Macula bomb with spells the hard steel door to open their way inside, making sure that the soldiers continue to focus their attention up in the front.

"Do you think it was a nice idea to leave them alone?" Katalina exclaims panting, as she runs with Cagliostro inside the installations, hiding from both scientists and soldiers, "Why? Because our main mission is to avoid Lyria gets eaten by the creature and we left her alone in a silver plate for it? Na'ah, I think it was the best idea!" Cag shouts sarcastically, kicking one of the walls in frustration, Katalina looks at the distressed girl in confusion, "I didn't know you worried that much about Lyria," She wonders while peeking her surroundings, looking for clues or enemies, "As if, I'm only worried about Djeeta!" Cagliostro continues yelling angrily, then blushing when realizing what she said, "Did you just..." Katalina mumbles but is interrupted by passing soldiers, both girls duck behind a door, then spot an open laboratory at the end of the hallway, looking at each other, the girls nod and sneak up their way until their destination. "All right, that must be the engine, watch up for me, I'll need a couple of minutes to reverse the process of the machine," Cagliostro explains, opening her book over the conglomerate of computers and analyzing the data on the screens, "Say, Cagliostro, about before..." Katalina says with a discrete tone, the alchemist girl blushes again, "What about it, can't I be worried about my Captain?!" She complains, Katalina just giggles, "Hm-hm, way before that, but we can also talk about that later if you want," Cagliostro squirms embarrassed, "Then what are you talking about?!" She continues shouting on her nerves, "For what Hope explained, both she and her sister can feed on other people's fears and hopes right? And if Lyria reabsorbs both her own fears and hopes back into her soul... what's going to happen with the Fear made from other people?" Cagliostro stops looking at the screens, violently looking back at Katalina, in silence, only the emergency sirens can be heard, Katalina turns to Cagliostro with a serious expression. "Say, how bad will that be?" She asks the alchemist girl, who hurries to inspect and pile up books of the laboratory while taping on the keyboards, "If what you're implying is true, we'll save Lyria from getting eaten, but there will be other hundreds of thousands of other dark Lyrias made from other living beings fears out there, waiting a chance to break berserk... the world would submit to fear."

"Why can't you understand, this isn't our place to be!" Hope cries to her sister, trying to shake some sense on the creature, who ignores and howls, making her nails grow long and sharp like claws to attack her counterpart, "We belong to our Lady's soul, what you're doing is wrong!" She insists, dodging her hits as much as possible, slowly getting scratches as the creature grows stronger within the seconds. "And what exactly is wrong in trying to be complete?" Loki whispers from behind her back, Hope got distracted trying to defend herself from the successive claw attacks, the Astral then takes this chances to slash wide his blade in a clean and wide cut, right to left, "NO!" Djeeta screams, she tries to run and aid her partner, but Fenrir lands on the field and stops her in her tracks, "Is about time you kids stops messing over!" The canine girl shouts and growls, Djeeta looks in despair how Hopes falls over her knees, her light rapier vanishing in the air. "What is even the meaning of this fight, you as the singularity should know better, fear is the strongest emotion you'll find in the skies!" Loki exclaims victorious, the dark Lyria smiles wide looking at her sister drop in the floor, stepping over the wound of her back an reuniting with Loki, "Even babies know the emotion of fear, Skyfarer and animals alike are born with it, is what make all of you the useless waste of the space in the sky realm you actually are!" He continues to mock the Captain efforts in a loud and vicious speech, Lyria can't help but pull out of Djeeta's soul, horrified, she tries to run in Hope's aid, just to be held by Djeeta, "Hope... Hope!" The girl in blue screams in tears, Djeeta tries her best to hold her, frustrated. "That's it, that's exactly it, even when the machine pulled all the fear from you, more fear grows from within your soul, all of you are just pathetic, you can't beat fear with hope, right?" He asks in a sarcastic tone to the dark Lyria who giggles maliciously to his words. "That's not... true!" Hope mumbles from the dirt, trying to stand up. "Gee, none of you know when to give up, right?" Loki sighs looking at the woman crawl to a tree and uses it to stand up, "Where all living beings born with fear, they all can learn about Hope..." She explains with a cracky voice, trying to approach the group, Fear just giggles again and prepares to fight back, "Because both emotions are important... where fear can help living beings to don't die... hope motivates them to live a bright life!" The woman regains her composure, drawing two rapiers from both hands, "My Lady survived all those years prisoned because of my sister, because of her Fear, for that I'm thankful, but she didn't begin to actually live until she learned about hope!" The black haired woman points Loki and Fear with her blade, "Our Lady needs both to continue her living! So I'll warn you one more time, GIVE UP," The woman dashes to the group and is intercepted by her sister, interchanging a rain of claws and sword hits. "Tch, Fenrir!" The man exclaims, the Primal dog nods and tries to join the fight and aid Fear, but Djeeta blocks the way with her sword, leaving Lyria uncovered, Loki smiles wide and sneaks behind the Captain, holding the girl in blue by the neck, both her and Hope stops immediately, "You lose this time again, singularity, come, Fear, and reclaim what is yours!" Loki shouts to the dark creature, which leaps and turns into a liquid, ready to fall over the girl, Loki releases Lyria when is about to hit, and then a metal box with a cone appears flying in the air, "Lyria, hold that over your chest, quickly!" a familiar voice screams from the distance, Cagliostro and Katalina running towards them, "Oh... right!" The girl does as told, holding the box with both hands, she closes her eyes and screams scared when the creature is about to touch her face, but when the claw is about to reach her cheek, her whole hand and arm is absorbed by the box, Loki watches baffled how the creature falls on the floor and twitches hurt, "No... NO!" He exclaims, but before he can interfere Cagliostro and Katalina draw him away, Fenrir jumps at the scene, and once again Djeeta manages to block her way. "Lady Lyria is now or never!" Hope cries as she runs to her sister, suppressing her with her arms while the creature screams and twitches. "Lyria, that box is made reverse the converging energy process, just point it towards them and they'll go back into your body!" Cagliostro desperately explains while aiding Katalina to push Loki away.

"Lady Lyria... it was a pleasure to meet you!" Hope says, giving the girl a sad smile while holding on her sister, "Hope... thank you for everything..." Lyria replies back in a sad tone, the girl lifts the box up again, and both Fear and Hope begin to lose their colors and turn into stone, losing their energy force as is absorbed by the box; the machine then sends a ray of light to Lyria's gem, making her eyes shine in black and white light for a couple of seconds until she falls asleep.

"Fine... fine!" Loki exclaims, pushing the women away with his sword, looking at his most recent friend vanish into dust, "Do you really think all is over now? I say it before, your efforts will be all useless." He points at the stone figures, which slowly begins to tremble, the effigy of the two entities crumbles, and a dark Lyria pours from it, growling and panting. "Cagliostro!" Katalina shouts, hurrying to assist Lyria, "Yeah... it happened exactly as we feared... Ouroboros!" The girl shouts, raising her book of alchemy, magic circles appear from the ground and open the doors for the summoning of a red dragon, which pushes Loki and Fenrir away while holding on the women, flying off to the mountains.

"So Fear is still alive?!" The Captain yells angrily, holding on the still asleep Lyria, "Somehow, it may still not possess a physical form, but it doesn't need Lyria to exist anymore, is independent as long as it fuels from other live beings fears," Djeeta bites her lower lip as Cagliostro explains the situation, "... What are our options?" She asks with a serious tone, "C'mon, give me a break, do you even realize all the effort I've been doing so far?!" Cag complains, resting her head against a tree, then Djeeta holds on her hand tightly, "Please, I need your help the most," the alchemist girl sightly blushes, giving a loud sigh, she continues, "We may still have a chance... if we bring Hope back," She tells to the Captain who reacts confused, "You... can bring Hope out again?" Lyria mumbles, waking up from her nap, everyone looks at the girl relieved, and Djeeta silently hugs her. "

"Where's August?" Loki asks inside of the installation, he, Fear and Fenrir reunited in the laboratory, the scientist all scared as the dark entity walks freely around the room, knocking their partners down, absorbing their negative emotions. "Lord Loki...? My Lord, this may not be the best moment," But the Astral gives him a cold stare, stopping him from saying any other excuse, "Why... How can I help you this time, my Lord?" The old man scrubs his hands and approaches faking composure. "We'll go for the second step now, Fear is now an individual," As the Astral explains, the Doctor curiosity surges, "But that's... magnificent! Lord Loki, that's exactly what we needed!" He shouts excited as another of his scientist staff members falls unconscious, August, ignores this completely and takes Fear by the arm, guiding her inside a capsule and closing her inside, the creature screams confused and tries to break free, but Loki shakes his head in silence, to which the creature replies by calming down and smiling wide. "Now that the copy is an individual, we can tune the converging energy process... I'm not sure what kind of power can be drawn from this girl Lord Loki, but it will be almost identical to the original!" August explains excited, Loki just takes a seat an observes everything develops, while Fenrir just sits on the floor and scratches her ears. In the middle of the invasion, with the sirens screaming loud and clear, nothing seems to distract August at all, the man is absorbed his depraved experiment, switching interrupters and moving levers, the other staff members connect energy cables to the capsule where Fear is held, "Here it goes..." August whispers, turning a red switch on, an engine can be heard starting up, draining the entire laboratory and installations from its electricity, the capsule then explodes, and a dark cloud of gas begins to spread without control.

On the outside, in the front doors, both crews and Primals managed to break open the steel doors and had most of the soldiers to surrender and give up their weapons when the cloud of gas smeared over them. "No, not this again, Macky, save me!" Satyr cries hugging her Primal friend, but the ice Lady suddenly drops unconscious on the floor, the group of people looks scared at the knocked out Macula and run to assist her, but one by one, everyone falls victim of the gas, Skyfarers and Primal Beasts alike they all end asleep on the floor, deprived from their energy, the cloud continues to spread and grow bigger in size, then stops frozen in the air, as if time had stopped, with the same speed it spread, now the cloud of gas retracts, fast and loud, from the doors of the installations back to the laboratory up to the capsule. Inside the laboratory, only Loki and Fenrir remain awake. "Did... did that thing spare us?" Fenrir wonders in absolute confusion, looking at the dark cloud who goes back to take the shape of the dark Lyria, who smiles and happily runs to hug Loki by the waist, "She did, Fear is now a friend of us, right?" He asks while holding the creature by her chin, Fear just nods and smiles, and after releasing Loki, it shouts a bizarre growl, as if she is trying to communicate, "I know, I know, you want to break free your new powers right? Go ahead, the world is yours," Loki tells the entity, who jumps and runs out of the laboratory, turning herself into liquid and escaping from the place.

Over the mountains, Vyrn manages to take the Nightcypher to the group of women who were hiding, they all observe the cloud of gas that invades the installations and disappears just as fast, wondering what could exactly have happened at the moment, the Captain and the girls had already made a new plan and thanking Vyrn for taking the ship to them, Cagliostro, Katalina, and Vyrn all aboard the Nightcypher while Djeeta remains on the mountains, "Are you sure of this...?" Lyria asks worried as the glass from the ship begins to close, "I'll buy you guys enough time, your job is to bring Hope back," Djeeta tells as she waves the girls and Vyrn goodbye, breathing deeply, the young girl folds her sword and closes her eyes. "All right, is time for you to do your usual thing," Djeeta whispers to herself, masculine voice echoing from his mind, "You are no fun, singularity, do you really despise me that much?" Belial chuckles and shrugs, inside her mind, Djeeta walks past the fallen Primarch until she meets with a broken mirror, where a figure that looks like her in black clothes stands giving her back. "Do you at least believe you can use that power to protect the girl in blue, even though the first time you almost sliced her neck with it?" Belial insists as Djeeta touches the broken mirror and her clothes begin to darken, "As long as I use this power to protect her... I will control it!" The girl cries, out of her mind, the soil trembles and crumbles around her, the plants' wit and the trees break and fall.

_**"CONSUME"** _

The loudest, and angriest screaming Fear made so far, the dark entity made it out of the installations, and turning into a giant dark orb, the creature elevates in the sky; growing bigger each time, taking the shape of a dragon that terrifies the women in the Grancypher. "Is that... Bahamut?!" Lyria screams in disbelief, "Is a copy of the Primeval Dragon... impressive," Cagliostro mumbles, driving the Nightcypher inside the forest, and landing near the statue of Hope.

"Oh, this is great this is really great!" Loki exclaims and claps with her hands, he and Fenrir have made it out of the laboratory, observing how Fear had turned into a 65 feet tall dragon made from her oily dark essence. "Consume all you want small Lady, submit this world into absolute fear!" He shouts proud, to which the dragon replies with a loud howl.

**_"LOKI"_ **

An enraged female voice screams, a figure dashes to the Astral at incredible speed, the man doesn't even have time to counter the hit with his blade and is sent away until he hits his back against a wall. "Just... what in the world!" The man yells hurt, trying to stand back up, both he and Fenrir observe shocked to what they face. "Well, well, singularity, this is certainly new..." Loki mumbles drawing his sword and approaching the girl, but his eyes aren't settled on her, but the great, demonic aura that floats over her body, controlling it with threads of magic energy. "Since when did your soul obtained a power so huge your body can no longer contain it? On top of it, you now control your body like a meat puppet, this is bizarre, even for you," He asks while pointing at her with his blade, the giant presence pays no attention to his questions, moving the threads on the vicious Djeeta, who charges anew against the Astral, "That won't work twice!" Fenrir screams, trying to block Djeeta's way and summoning a giant ice stake, the girl not only ignores this but changes directions towards the Primal and with a swing of her sword, she shouts, _"LEAVE US ALONE!"_ Fenrir stands still, speechless, Djeeta had cut her chains down into little bits, the Primal girl falls on her knees in confusion, "Hey... Fenrir, I would really like your help here," Loki says, trying to shake the girl up, but the dog girl just looks at him confused, rubbing her arms, now uncuffed, "Fenrir... Fenrir!" The Astral insist but is interrupted by Djeeta who charges at him trying to behead Loki, "What... what do I do now? I never thought about what should I do if this ever happened... Loki... tell me, what should I do?!" Fenrir yells agitated, scratching her head over and over, "We don't have time for this Fenrir!" Loki shouts angrily, doing his best to keep at the same level of Djeeta but failing repeatedly, "What should I do... what I'm going to do?" Fenrir begins to cry confused, the shock has rendered her immobile and making her unable to fight.

"We don't have enough time people, once you're done with box pass it to the next person, those who have already used the box help the other to wake up!" Cagliostro orders here and there, inside the installations, the women had carried the effigy of Hope inside and place it inside the broken capsule, August and his staff tied with ropes and tossed into a corner; both the crew of the Grancypher and the merchant crew helping each other to regain consciousness, each member holding on the box Cag had given to Lyria early, once a white light sparkled inside, the person carrying the box would give it to the next one, and so on, even the Primal women had taken part in the action, "A memory of hope... maybe when I was hoping for Satyr to don't drag me into her concert?" Macula wonders while holding onto the box, to which Cagliostro gives her a dead stare, "Chill girl, it was a joke," Satyr chuckles hearing Macula's reaction, "Your ice jokes are so bad, Macky," the ice lady blushes, then closes her eyes and focuses until the box shines in white energy, breathing deeply, the Primal opens her eyes again and gives the box to man from the merchant crew looking at her with puppy eyes.

"Fear? A little bit of help would help me a lot," Loki pants in distress, ducking Djeeta's swing of the blade, the dragon in the sky roars furious, opening her mouth, the beast breathes a dark torrent of fire over Djeeta, drawing distance between the two, "Thanks, dear, it seems is time to say goodbye, singularity," Loki continues panting, leaping to Fenrir who remains paralyzed in shock, holding her by the waist and summoning a portal of magic energy, "Farewell singularity, you have grown stronger, but you're still far away from being able to beat Fear," He whispers while runs away through the portal, when the Captain leaps trying to chase him, the dragon blocks her way by firing a blast of dark fire, the smoke, quickly turning into small Lyrias, flies and holds on Djeeta's body, trying to absorb the girls' negative essence, but failing as she slices the smokes and makes them disappear, _"TOO BAD FOR YOU, I DON'T FEEL ANY FEAR,"_ Djeeta screams and laughs, this now facing the giant dragon who once again shoots a blast of fire on the harbor, crumbling and destroying the bay of the installations and making the island shake.

**_"Stop there!"_ **

A familiar, feminine voice screams from the top of the building, and both Djeeta and Fear turn surprised. Standing there was Hope, but her clothes had changed entirely. Her head decorated with half of a tiara in the left side resembling the one of Macula over her black hair, her eye-patch having a rose pattern, her sundress had turned into a white gala, the chest covered with a silver plate like the one Katalina wears but marble white, her right arm wearing an armor like the one Apollo uses up to her wrist, while her left arm is covered by a transparent long sleeve with a flower pattern; holding on both a rapier and a double-edged sword in each left and right hand, the new entity steps forward on her heels, shining on the dress that reaches her ankles and shows the tattoo on her back. Fear roars one more time furiously to see her sister back and begins to shoot a rain of fireballs that try to scorch Hope alive, the woman smiles and dashes away, successfully calling her sister attention and taking her away from Djeeta. " _NO, YOU WON'T GET AWAY!"_ The Captain cries, but before she can make any move, Cagliostro, Lyria, and Vyrn appear from the entrance and embrace the blonde girl with on their arms... and paws. "Djeeta, come back, is over, come back!" Lyria cries, squishing her friend as tight as possible, "I'm not losing you this way, don't make me hug you in front of everyone in vain!" Cagliostro pouts flustered. Eugen, Io, Katalina, Rackam, Rosetta, Neza, Petra, Yaia, all of them one after the other jumping on Djeeta and embracing the Captain who continues to crawl to chase fear. "Is not working... is not working at all!" Rackam complains as the eleven members of the crew are being dragged like nothing by one sole girl. "Djeeta, wake up!" Lyria cries one more time, all of them, unable to watch the devil aura manipulating the body like a puppet.

"Singularity is time to go back," Belial chuckles, flicking Djeeta's nose and pulling her away from the broken mirror, "Did... did you just help me?" Djeeta wonders baffled, rubbing her nose, "Don't get me wrong girl, but if I have to continue this cheesy scene of love and friendship I'm going to puke, hurry up and go back to them!" Belial shouts, gently pushing the girl so she falls into the void, waking her back into her senses, her soul, slowly losing energy and merging back inside her body, the Captain falls unconscious, but the crew rest relieved.

On the other side of the island, dashing at an insane speed, Hope has drawn her sister up to the mountains, where the woman waits for them at the top. The dragon pierces its claws on the mountain, making it shake and tremble, the dark Lyria howls vicious, ready to shoot a blast of fire against Hope when the entity begins to shine in white light, "My sister which has walked the wrong path, you must be executed, but rest assure, fear finds peace in the arms of hope," She tells the creature, extending her arms and dropping her blades, white spheres of energy begin to float in the sky as she walks to the dragon, Fear remains confused and immobile, paralyzed looking at Hope's light, the woman walks face to face to the mouth of the dragon and embraces her in her arms, the spheres of energy reunite and create a mass of light that grows bigger each time and takes the shape of a familiar face.

"Is that... a giant me?" Lyria asks impressed, the group can only shout a simple - Yup - as they all look at the giant, light Lyria manifestation gently embrace the giant dragon and then explode in a burst of dark and light energy in the sky.

* * *

**_"I breathe fire! And nothing can stop me now~! Unstoppable! My music is burning love~!"_ **

Satyr happily sings over a scaffold in Port Breeze, both the Grancypher crew, the merchant crew and the people from the town cheering the fire Primal as she dances and sings with beauty and style.

"Lady Lyria!" Hope shouts in her usual sundress, hugging the girl by the neck with a smile, the woman reuniting with the group who watches Satyr's concert from the sky, "Hope, how many times we have to talk about personal space!" Katalina complains, chopping the woman's head, "Is okay, Katalina," Lyria looks up to her, holding in the black haired woman arms, "Hope feels always so warm and soft, I don't really mind," She adds, making Katalina sigh and Hope giggle, "Don't worry, I'll hug you later too," Hope tells her, making Katalina squirm, "That's exactly what I want you to stop doing, you can just go around hugging everyone-" The woman tries her best to lecture, but a voice from a floor over the bow interrupts them.

"Enough of that, enjoy the concert!" Djeeta shouts from the second level, she and Cagliostro watching the Primals' show together in a cafe table. "You were a huge help this time..." Djeeta mumbles as they look down on the bay, "And...?" Cag asks, without looking at the Captain, "And you're the cutest girl in the world?" Djeeta wonders with a giggle, "And...?" The alchemist girl insists "Cuter than Satyr?" the Captain tries again, but the girl continues to don't look at her, "Of course, but, and I repeat... And...?" Djeeta then breathes deeply, and holding on Cagliostro's hand, she flusters and whispers, "And I love you," Cagliostro then blushes too, in silence, she just nods and hold on the Captain's fingers back.

Having made new friends, having break new barriers, defying the absolute horrors of the sky realm the crew has overcome one more adventure, they celebrate and relax with the fire Primal spectacle, until a new day comes.


End file.
